The development is dubbed Rêve — French for "dream" — and features 244 rental units, and more than 120,000 square feet of office space and flex-space that can be used for offices, retail and restaurants.

More than 40 percent of the development would be open space with amenities such as a fire pit and outdoor chess board.

The site plan and rezoning for the project passed with three amendments. First, final plans for the project, subject to review by the city manager, must have wiring in all four buildings that would support solar panels. Second, the underground parking garages for the project must be able to support the charging of electric vehicles.

And third, the developers must reduce the number of parking spaces planned for the underground garages by 20 percent.

Boulder resident Ben Binder, during the public comment portion of the meeting, said he thought the property should be used for permanent affordable housing and feared that the Rêve development would make an already dense part of the city too congested.

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"Danica said the inspiration for this project is the ditch, but I believe the inspiration is Boulder's booming housing market," Binder said, referring to Danica Powell, a former city Planning Board member who now represents Boulder's Trestle Group.

He added that he thought the developers have underestimated the amount of traffic the project will attract.

"I think you have an opportunity to do some transportation demand management by reducing the demand for people to drive to and from this project," Binder said.

Powell said that in designing and redesigning the project as part of its 2½ -year history with the Planning Board and City Council, the developers definitely heard that, for this project to work in Boulder, they had to make it pedestrian-friendly.

"People first, car second. We heard that loud and clear," Powell said. "That's why everything is underground, there's not a car parked above ground. The second you get on the site with the car you go underground."

Powell also said that the rental units will have paid, unbundled parking. That is, a parking space does not come bundled with rent, making it attractive for tenants who do not own cars.

Price of rent

Planning Board Member Elizabeth Payton asked the members of the development team whether they had settled on rents for the units on the property.

Tim Downey, CEO of developer Southern Land Co., said the rents, in 2016 dollars, would range from $900 to $4,000 per month, depending on the size of the unit.

The developers are planning on 26 micro-units, which would be 467-square-foot studio apartments. There also would be 26 studio apartments that are planned to be 635 square feet.

The largest units are the three-bedroom units — there would be six 1,678-square-foot rooftop penthouses and five 1,548-square-foot, three-bedroom units, according to the applicant's presentation.

Payton asked why the developers chose to not provide permanent affordable housing onsite within the development and the question continued to be a sticking point throughout the meeting.

Powell answered the question, saying the developer could not square the rent-controlled units that would come with putting permanent affordable housing onsite.

But, Powell said, the developers are working with Boulder Housing Partners in order to leverage the $6.65 million the builder must provide to the inclusionary affordable housing fund in cash-in-lieu and linkage fees.

Jeremy Durham, with Boulder Housing Partners, spoke in support of the project during the public comment portion of the meeting, saying that the developer was committed to partnering with their organization.

A rendering of the proposed Rêve development at 30th Street and Pearl Parkway in Boulder. (Courtesy image)

Still, board members expressed their desire for onsite affordable housing.

"What happens with the cash-in-lieu, lately anyway, is we end up looking at projects out on the fringe of the cities where there aren't any amenities and that's where the low-income families end up being," Payton said. "Onsite affordable housing, if we can achieve that here, that would be great."

'The community cares'

In the end, Planning Board Member Crystal Gray proposed a motion recommending the City Council examine Boulder's inclusionary housing ordinance in regards to encouraging or requiring onsite affordable housing for developments.

Board member John Putnam abstained from the vote on Gray's motion, which passed, but did encourage the Rêve developers to try to incorporate onsite affordable housing somehow.

"You know we care, the City Council cares, the community cares so I would encourage you to keep working on it and see if something might work," Putnam said.

The Planning Board's vote Thursday night gives Rêve's developers the final go-ahead on the project — unless the City Council decides to call it up for review.

Planning Board decisions are only reviewed by the City Council if a majority of the council wants to call it up. If the council decides to call up a Planning Board site review decision, it must schedule a public hearing within 60 days of that decision. Otherwise, the Planning Board decision stands.

A rendering of the proposed Rêve development at 30th Street and Pearl Parkway in Boulder. (Courtesy image)

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